Oklahoma prez says gameday experience has to be ‘bigger and better’ with SEC move
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Oklahoma plans to completely rethink its tailgating experience ahead of its arrival in the SEC in 2024.
University president Joe Harroz told SoonerScoop’s George Stoia at a Board of Regents meeting on Wednesday that “everything we’re doing in Norman has to be re-examined in light of moving to the SEC.” Sooner fans have been unable to tailgate on Lindsey Street — the main road running through the heart of campus and running parallel to the south endzone at Memorial Stadium — since 2017.
According to Stoia, updating the school’s tailgating policies was one of the agenda items on Wednesday’s Board of Regents meeting. A “tailgating committee” will provide recommendations to the Board.
“I think we have to look at all of it,” Harroz told Stoia. “They’re going to come back with some recommendations. My sort of request was let’s be really creative. Let’s find the best possible experience we can generate and let’s draw upon those that have done it well. Everything we’re doing in Norman has to be re-examined in light of moving to the SEC. It’s got to be bigger and better. That goes from how we perform on the field to how we create the experience for our fans.
“So yeah, is that on the table? Absolutely. It’s all on the table and we’re going to come back with a set of recommendations that will make it the kind of experience it needs to be.”
There is no better gameday experience than the one found in SEC country.
OU — which will welcome Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee to Norman in 2024 — seems ready to do whatever is needed to uphold that standard.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
